He is excited to have a team of investors interested in addressing the housing needs in the city.

Ross is putting in $7.5 million, while the Ford Foundation is investing $10 million, adding the The Platform's $10 million investment.

The newly formed team will be focusing on several neighborhoods including Islandview, New Center, TechTown, Milwaukee Junction, North End, Eastern Market and Riverfront.

"Involving parts of the city and people in the cty who may not yet have been able to participate in the recovery, that sort of animates us," Cummings said.

The plan is to develop mid-rise apartment buildings with retail shops on the street level.

While much of Detroit's revitalization has been focused downtown, Cummings said this is where they come in.

"More than 95 percent of the investment capital that's gone into the city in this resurgence has been concentrated in less than 5 percent of its geographic footprint, and so our company exists to address the other 95 percent," he said.

The Platform's next groundbreaking will be for a building called Baltimore Station 2 in Milwaukee Junction.